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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Met and unmet need for personal assistance among community-dwelling New Zealanders 75 years and over | | Author(s) | Laura Wilkinson-Meyers, Paul Brown, Chris McLean, Ngaire Kerse |
| Journal title | Health and Social Care in the Community, vol 22, no 3, May 2014 |
| Publisher | Wiley Blackwell, May 2014 |
| Pages | pp 317-327 |
| Source | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hsc |
| Keywords | Living in the community ; Needs [elderly] ; Domiciliary services ; Domestic assistance ; Quantitative studies ; New Zealand. |
| Annotation | Ageing in place initiatives that aim to keep older people out of hospitals and rest homes and in their own homes for longer have been at the forefront of aged care policy in New Zealand since the early 1990s. The success of these policies depends largely on the availability of a suitable home environment, a supportive social network, and regular assessment to detect changes in the older person's health status and needs for support. The BRIGHT Trial (Brief Risk Assessment i General Practice Health Tool) was a randomised control trial (RCT) investigating the effectiveness of introducing case finding in primary care settings to detect unmet need and risk of disability among older people. Using a baseline questionnaire, data were collected in 2008-2009 from 3753 community-dwelling older people to estimate and describe use and need for additional personal assistance. Logistic regression was used to identify the most important predictors of reporting some need for support and unmet need. 81% of participants required support with at least one instrumental activity of daily living. 66% were meeting their needs with the support they were currently receiving. Unmet need was most frequently reported for heavy housework (65%) and light housework (53%). While spouses, family members and friends were the main providers of support for light housework, meal preparation, shopping, finances and transportation, paid staff most frequently provided personal care and heavy housework assistance. Reporting mobility difficulty, identifying as a care provider, and being female were all significant predictors of some need for assistance, as well as unmet need for assistance. The findings highlight the importance of regular needs assessment for older people living in the community, particularly given the reliance on spousal support for the majority of activities. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-150522245 A |
| Classmark | K4: IK: N: NG6: 3DQ: 7YN |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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